Copyright Weegee / International Center of Photography / Getty Images
In an interesting timeline presenting the inventions related to photography, the henry new media gallery locates the inception of street photography in the 1950′s. The start of the genre is due on the one hand to the improvement of technologies, allowing the photographer to capture the characters more spontaneously with lighter equipments, and also to depict society in an objective manner.
On the other hand, street photography was greatly influenced by post war social reforms, and photographers started to challenged long-established models of social justice, formalism, and personal expression.